Ever changing
by jloveyslas
Summary: Naru is back along with Lin and the rest of the gang. Though none were expecting Mai's powers to change and with that change comes a new attitude. Even in this time of change is there a chance at love for Mai. This story would not be possible without the editing of Melissa-Disney99.
1. Chapter 1

Deep in the city of Shibuya in the middle of a silent night, a blood curdling scream sounded in apartment number 309 with the name _Taniyama Mai_ written underneath it. Interestingly enough, no other person in the complex heard the cry coming from within.

"Aaaaaah!"

* * *

Mai:

I awoke covered in sweat and looked around my apartment as the memories of my dream played over and over in my mind. Tears coursed down my face as I recalled what was – in my opinion – the most terrifying dream I'd ever had – the dream where everyone I loved, died. I pulled my legs up to my chest and hugged them while I attempted to clear my thoughts, then glanced over at the clock to see that it was only 4:37 in the morning. With a sigh, I heaved my legs over the side of my bed with the intent of taking a shower. Myself, and my pajamas, were soaked.

After I had gotten clean clothes, I quickly stripped out of my dirty ones and threw them into my hamper. I had to do a double-take; the clothing was piling up. "Well, I guess I'll have to do laundry when I get home" I mumbled to myself, stepping into the shower and letting the warm water wash over me in a steady stream.

Half an hour later, I was getting dressed in my room when I remembered just where I was going and what I was doing. Today was the first client my company would serve since Oliver, Aka, Naru, and Lin returned from England a month ago. They had been gone for two years, and although the rest of the group had kept regular contact with me, neither Oliver nor Lin had done so. I shook my head; over those past two years, I had lost all feelings towards Oliver. I had realized that, even though my confession had reached his ears, my love for him would never penetrate his heart no matter what I did to try and prove to him that it was he whom I loved and not his deceased brother Eugene.

When I had found out that the group was leaving the day after I had confessed and Gene's body had been found, I had felt betrayed by Oliver. It felt like he wasn't willing to let me explain that it had been him the whole time; not his brother. I guess he could have easily gotten the wrong idea though, since Gene had been like a brother figure to me. He had always been there to help me in the astral plane when it was hard for me to cope with those depressing and exhausting dreams that I have.

As I tugged on my stockings, my teeth clenched imperceptibly. My dreams were the one thing Oliver thought I _was_ useful for (other than making him his stupid tea every half hour). Although, since they arrived back in Shibuya, I hadn't had the chance to tell anyone that while they were gone, my powers had increased by tenfold. At this point, I was now able to see dreams predicting the future, see and speak with ghosts, and clean away spirits. Not only that, but my life was always in danger now because, if I dreamt of a victim suffering under any sort of torture, I would suffer it as well while I slept.

I shook my head to clear away my thoughts as I headed into the kitchen. The events of the past two years were a lot to think about. After I had prepared breakfast and had sat down at the table with a plate in one hand and a cup of tea in the other, I glanced at the newspaper. Nothing interesting, but it was enough for a early morning read. When I finished, I was about to take a look at the TV when I saw the clock: six thirty.

"Shit, I'm going to be late if I don't leave now." The words slipped out of my mouth as I ran to grab my purse, cell phone, and keys. I rushed from my apartment and hurried to the nearest bus stop. It would take me half a block away from SPR, which was my destination of choice.

My bus ride was filled with stress as I listened intently to each stop that was called. If I missed mine, then I would surely be in the dog house. With it being my luck, I almost did miss it, and I only had five minutes to get inside my work building before I'd really be in trouble. Within three minutes, I was walking into SPR and turning on my computer when I heard Naru yell, "Mai! Tea!"

I released a small sigh. "Hai! Right away" I called over my shoulder, then mumbled, "you tea-addicted narcissist that can't get up to make your own." As I walked into the kitchenette, my dream from last night suddenly hit me full force, causing a chill to pass through my body. I quickly shook off the feeling and filled the kettle with water. After the water had warmed, I made Naru tea and Lin coffee, placed both cups on a tray, and then carried it to Naru's office. I knocked on the door, waiting for a response as I struggled to balance the tray without spilling its contents.

"Enter."

At the sound of Naru's voice, I carefully opened the door and walked in. He was sitting at his usual spot at his desk, so I placed his cup at his hand before leaving his office and heading off to Lin's. Again I knocked on the door, and again I got the response of "enter." The only difference between delivering tea to Naru and coffee to Lin was that Lin mumbled a quiet "thank you" as I set his cup down. As I shut his door behind me, the front door of our workplace chimed. I looked up, only to be met with a face that I had never wanted to see again standing in the doorway.

"Hello" he said politely. "My name is Nakamura. I was wondering if you could help me with a problem that I've been having with my house. I believe that it's haunted."

"Well," I said, attempting to shake off the fear that had gripped my heart, "let me go get my boss for you. Please, sit down." I gestured to a chair, then headed back to Naru's office and poked my head in after knocking.

"We have a client" I said curtly before informing Lin as well. When I returned to the main lobby, Nakamura was looking amiably around the office.

"Do you like something to drink?" I asked hospitably.

"Water, please." Nakamura smiled slightly at me, causing another chill to run up my spine. I nodded, then hurried into the kitchenette and poured another cup of tea for Naru as well as one for myself, another cup of coffee for Lin, then reluctantly, I readied a cup of ice water for our creepy new client. On my way back however, I downed some night quill without a second thought.

When I returned to the lobby, Lin and Naru were already there. I took a seat next to Lin, which resulted in one of his shiki to float in front of my face. It was a small dragon in turquoise and white, and it possessed a slightly golden glow. I did my best to pretend that I didn't see it, and I was successful for a while – until it laid down in my lap and curled into a ball. Before I could stop myself, I was looking down at my lap with shocked, widened eyes. I was so stunned, in fact, that I completely missed what Nakamura had been saying.

"Leave all of your information with my assistant here and we will arrive in two days. Will you have everything ready by then?" Naru's voice startled me out of my shock, and I hurriedly looked up in order to join the rest of the meeting before it ended without me.

"Well, yes; of course I will. Don't worry about it" Nakamura said with a wide smile on his face as he stood up and handed me a piece of paper with his information. "Goodbye; I hope you have a wonderful day, and I can't wait to see you again. And," he paused, then smiled more if at all possible, "thank you again for taking my case." As he walked out the door, I returned to the kitchenette with the empty cups. Suddenly, all of the fear I felt when I first saw him came back at me stronger and more forcibly as the front door closed with a soft _click_. The sudden wave of terror crashed over me, causing me to drop the tray and collapse to the floor in tears. As I continued to cry, the pain from my dream this morning came back to me full force, and I cried out as the memories rushed through my mind.

"No… No… Die…" I moaned, then screamed, "We are all going to die! No!" as I covered my ears with my hands. The painful memories shook my body. Death; it was going to happen, we were all going to— Suddenly, I felt someone grab me and begin shaking my shoulders.

"No, let go of me!" I began to scream even louder. A sharp pain on the side of my face brought me to and I had to blink several times as I met eyes with Lin, who was holding my shoulders and looked concernedly into my face. Just behind him was Naru, whose hand was raised as if to slap someone. I placed my hand on my cheek, realizing that the someone Naru was about to slap – again – was me.

"What…?" I looked around myself to see that broken pieces of cups were scattered on the floor. "Oh my— I am so sorry. I'll clean this up immediately. S-sorry again." I began to crawl around the floor, trying to pick up the jagged shards. A large, slightly calloused hand stopped mine, and I looked up to see that Lin was once again at my side. He shook his head and gave me a meaningful stare as if to say "no".

"Mai, go sit down on the sofa" he finally said as he rose to his feet, pulling me up with him. I was about to protest, but then thought better of it as he led me to the couch in the lobby. Now feeling dejected and useless, I watched as he quickly and effectively cleaned up the mess I made. It wasn't his job to do that, it was mine. Movement caught my eyes, and I watched as Naru took a seat across from me with a notepad in hand. He looked at me expectantly, and I knew he was waiting for me to explain. But I didn't want to tell him anything; what was there for me to tell—?

 _Crash!_ My thought process was broken at the loud sound, but when I looked towards the kitchenette, Lin was just walking out of it while wiping his hands on his suitcoat. He joined me on the sofa and opened up his laptop before creating a new document and beginning to type.

"Now Mai, why were you screaming and what did you mean when you said we are all going to die?" Naru asked as the sound of typing filled in the background noise. "Tell me, did you have a dream last night?"

"Yes… I did have another one" I said hesitantly. "I was going to tell you about it too, but then Mister Nakamura came in I didn't get the chance." My voice was so quiet, Naru had to ask me to say it again.

"Mai," Lin said after I had finished repeating myself, "I want to ask you why you were looking at your lap while the client was talking. Also, why did you look surprised at whatever it was you were looking at?" I turned to look at him to see that his eyes were filled with curiosity. I swallowed.

"I was just looking at one of your shiki" I dropped my gaze to my lap. "You know, the turquoise and white dragon that glows gold when it's happy?"

"What, you can see my shiki? Since when?" Lin was in shock. "How can you tell that it was happy?"

"Ah, well, yes I can see them. I've been able to since you guys got back, and well, you can tell they're happy when they glow gold because they seem to relax. It's as if the stress is lifted off their shoulders" I said more confidently as I risked a look into Lin's eyes.

"Alright Mai, how much have your powers actually grown?" Naru cut in with a stern voice.

"Well, if you'd been paying attention, you would know that I can now see some dreams of the future, see and speak with ghosts, and also clean away spirits on my own" I replied, a bit on the defensive. "Also, whenever I have a dream with a victim, whatever happens to the victim happens to me in reality. But," I added, heaving a big sigh, "I heal quickly. It's almost as if it was fake, although the blood that I lose is real."

"Tell me," Naru said, looking me squarely in the eyes, "what was your most recent dream about?"

"You want to know what I saw? I saw the future – I saw everyone on our team die. I lived each and every death, including yours and Lin's, and then I saw my own. And all of our deaths were on Mister Nakamura's hands." Tears welled up in my eyes as my voice began to quiver, and I felt heat rise to my cheeks.

"Mai," Naru's voice was beginning to sound frustrated, "that does not mean he will be the one to kill us."

"No, you don't get it Naru!" I sat up straight on the couch and leaned forward a bit to look him right in the face. "He _is_ the one who will kill us – all of us! He does it with his own hands; I saw him do it. He is a fraud, and he's making up the whole story about his house being haunted. He does it so he can lure people with spiritual powers such as yourself inside his trap." I shook my head and ran a hand through my hair in aggravation.

"We are not the only team that he's done this to. If you take this case Naru, it _will_ be our last. Also, if you take this case, I— I can't go with you." I looked down at the ground. "I can't watch everyone die in front of me again. I'm sorry, but if you take the case, then I quit." I looked up at him with resolve in my eyes. "Seeing everyone die in a dream is one thing, but seeing it in real life – I know I'll go crazy! I'll pray for my death to be quick, even when I'll know that Mister Nakamura will take his sweet time raping me and then torturing me by showing me each and every one of your lifeless bodies. Then, he'll get tired of me and kill me, ripping me limb from limb, and then stabbing me in the heart before I can die from blood loss."

"So yeah," I said as hot tears slowly streamed down my cheeks, "I know that it's real. I know that he'll do it, even if you don't believe what I'm telling you." By now, I was shaking as my crying neared uncontrollable measures. I abruptly stood up and walked to my desk, grabbed my purse, and headed towards the door. As I began to take my leave, I stopped to speak quietly over my shoulder.

"Naru, there's a pot of hot water on the stove. If you want another cup of tea, then you'll have to make it yourself. Goodbye; please call me if you do decide to not take the case in the end." By the time I heard someone call my name, I was already halfway down the street, heading back home.


	2. Sorry

**Hay guys, sorry about not posting but my computer that I was writing on decided to die on me I lost all of my documents including the next few chapters for each of my stories. Along with that I have been so busy with college and graduating that I haven't been able to write. I am so sorry I will try to write more after May 25!**


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